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Route 8 - Plateaued Pillar

Salieri sneered at Zack once he said she was an incompetent protector. Since it was coming from him of all people, she didn't take it so personally, but he still wasn't winning her over any time soon.

"My bet's that the talking chimp is right," Sal chimed, not batting an eyelash as Gremlin spoke. He wasn't the first talking Pokémon she had encountered. "You didn't even know what a noble was til a few days ago, did you? And you didn't even know what a darkhorse hunter was til a minute ago. Without a plan, they'll royally screw over a noob like you. More importantly-"

She held up a stern finger. "I have a list of nobles who are mine to take down. You don't get to lay finger on them by yourself. So don't get in my way, got it? If you wanna make yourself useful for once and give me a hand, that's a different story. But if you go maverick you'll ******** up everything for the rest of us."

((Edit'd some typos you don't wanna see. Plus tweaks))

Route 8 - Plateaued Pillar

Salieri rolled her eyes, standing strong against the gust from Antiq's wings with one hand keeping her bandanna on. Every time a guy tried to show off how big their Pokémon was, she had the feeling they were compensating for something. Just like his Ghost, he came across to her as hot air, but he did get one thing right: she wasn't trying to be a hero. She was looking for payback.

As Zack released Antiq, Banksy poked up her head, sensing it was time to go, and tucked her limbs into her shell. Soon she was hovering on geysers of smoke. To her, Zack was another crude young trainer like Salieri. To see their talks deteriorate into a pissing match was grating for Banksy. After all that had happened to the girl, she couldn't see how Salieri still had enough energy to be so petty. I cannot wait to leave.

Sal stepped onto the Torkoal, bracing herself in her surfer-esque riding position. "Who are you calling a noisy jerk, noisy jerk?" she called over to the midair Zack. "You want to play hero, swoop in and Vullaby my sloppy seconds? When I'm done with them, there won't be anything for you to pick on. So adieu, Deadgrave."

In a trail of smoke, she'd fly away towards Cyllage City as opposed to Zack. He hadn't told her anything she didn't know, except that a 'Team Flair' might be involved with the nobility. But he wasn't a source she could -or wanted to- rely on. It was one more in a net of threads she needed to unravel. "Team Flair...sounds like a kid's clothing company." Sal grimaced, looking over her shoulder to watch Zack fly away. They should leave Kalos while they can.

"Merde, what an idiot..."

From this high up, the sound of the city below was a dull mix, too far too be loud. Banksy's jets weren't particularly loud either. Salieri checked her Pokégear's reception, then called up Helena. Unbeknownst to her, Helena was at a party at the time Sal tried to call her. She reached Helena's voicemail instead, and left a message. "Hey, it's Salieri. Listen, the oaf you call a brother came to see me cause he was worried about you. We should talk, gimme a call so he doesn't. All I hear when he talks is a spastic Electabuzz. Anyway, call me~!"

She hung up, then directed Banksy on a dive towards the Pokémon Center. The night was young, but Salieri was feeling aged. Need some downtime right now.

((Sal and Zack need a babysitter))

Cyllage City – Pokémon Center Rooftop

Salieri was fortunate enough to get a room for the night in the Pokémon Center. She changed into grey sweatpants and a blue tanktop, left the rest of her things with a sleepy Banksy, and took her other Pokémon with Faust’s binoculars to the roof.

The last remnants of orange in the horizon left with the sun, and a blanket of night had fallen over Kalos. It was predicted that a meteor shower that would last for days was to begin sometime soon, and so the majority of Cyllage City’s denizens shut off the lights to darken the sky. Durendal waited patiently with the binoculars, scanning the stars for twinkles that streaked through space. Biz Marquis and Lupin lay on their backs for the best view possible while Sal scribbled lazily in a notebook.

“Scenario twenty three,” she yawned, spinning around the pad to face her Pokémon. It was labeled what she said it was. On the side was a key with an average Vaporeon’s stats, typing and other vital information. There was a poorly drawn mini map of Cyllage, various equations, and a doodle of Biz Marquis holding Dune by the ankles like a sword.

“Same as Scenario seventeen, again, except instead of turning right onto Wheeler Street she turns left, goes into the Boutique. She’ll be trapped in there unless she finds a drain to the sewers, so I’ll be on drain watch-“

Lupin and Biz had stopped listening twenty scenarios ago. They were having way more fun pointing out constellations, even if Biz didn’t know any of them. [Ursaring Major,] Lupin said, tracing the outline of an Ursaring in the sky. [That tiny bluish one over there is the tip of the left ear.]

Biz squinted at the constellation. [I can’t see it.]
[The ear. The blue star is the ear-]
[I know, I can’t see it.]
[Then you’re just an idiot.]

Sal caught on that her Pokémon had stopped paying attention to her. With a sigh she tossed her notebook over her shoulder and lay down next to them. “Screw it,” she mumbled, relaxing her hands behind her head. It was too late and they were too tired to strategize future battles anymore. Vaporeon would be her most difficult capture yet thanks to her evasive nature, but it made her want the Bubble Jet Pokémon even more. Thinking about it reminded her of being restless in bed the night before Christmas, waiting for Santa to show up with the gifts.

Faust would never hunt down another trainer again, she was sure of it. And yet even without his watchful eyes shadowing her, she still did not feel fully at ease. Defeating him gave her a sense of accomplishment, not satisfaction, something she would never say out loud to anyone. Her satisfaction was far from fulfilled, and that victory was just a drop in the bucket. Sal’s hand moved across her chest to tap on her heart.

How many more do I have to beat before I’m done?

[It’s starting,] Durendal squeaked. The unfamiliar sound of his voice brought everyone to attention. He removed the binoculars from his eyes and pointed at the sky as he sat down next to his friends.

“Whoa, Dune, you can talk?” Sal asked, mildly surprised. But her other Pokémon didn’t seem to care, their focus centered on space above them. One bright streak went across the sky, and then another. And another and another, until the blanket of darkness was covered with shooting stars so distant they flickered in and out of sight.

“Voila,” she whispered. It almost didn’t feel right to talk during such a spectacle. It was unlike anything they’d ever seen before, and to utter a word was to break back to reality. Salieri didn’t want to go back to reality. Reality was difficult, full of obstacles on her way out of hardships. She wished she could savor this moment forever, to have the time to truly appreciate the beauty of her country before jumping back into her war on injustice. It was a wish she made on many of the shooting stars.

A deafening splash snapped her out of her reverie as she and her other Pokémon snapped up, looking for the source. A few miles off the coast, one of the meteors landed in the ocean, impacting the sea’s surface so hard it created a mushroom cloud of water. Another sight to behold.

“I hope I didn’t wish on that star.”

Route 8:

The pokemon had sparred for a short while before being taken to face off with opponents of the wild variety. Francis seemed tired out, which was understandable considering his fight earlier in the day, and that the type advantage from the rhyhorn had given him trouble. The pidgeotto was perched next to the relaxing Essence, while Benedict was shouting commands at his other three pokemon to take on the wild ones.

Not that any of it was especially difficult really. While somewhat fatigued, the three were able to move well enough according to command. There still wasn't enough trust, not like with Essence and Francis. The three made mistakes, and sometimes stumbled into each-other...

But it was good training.

After a while, Benedict found himself staring out at the ocean with just Essence. The rest had been returned, and were resting in their pokeballs. Shooting stars had begun moving across the sky, and the two watched it together.

"You think maybe we should rough it out here tonight?" He asked, turning to his pokemon. Arceus he didn't feel like walking all the way back and putting in the effort to find a place to stay. Not that he wanted to stay with his parents either.

When something crashed some distance away, both he and Essence jumped in surprise, then turned their attentions back to the sky. "Yeah, I guess maybe not." A small chuckle punctuated it, and Essence nodded wisely. Normally she'd be all for it, but not if there were apparently things falling out of the sky, making booms.

"We should start on our way back." Neither one moved. It was a beautiful sky, after all...

Lumiose City - Moreau Library

It was a while before Zack finished his dinner. His chat with Esme went on for a good while, long enough to transform the darkening twilight into true night. Zack ate slowly while Esme, who had never been outside of Kalos, asked questions about his travels. When he spoke, she listened quietly, only sometimes cutting in with a sarcastic remark or comment. At first she hadn't believed him when every story featured something exploding, or Zack narrowly avoiding death, but Zack promised that those were the only stories worth telling.

'It's amazing you're still alive,' Esme said, stretching, as Zack finished telling her about the enormous Crawdaunt who had tried decapitating him for electrocuting its pond.
'Well, I play it smart,' Zack smirked. There were a number of people who might disagree on that point, but Zack considered having all his bits and pieces still attached to be overwhelming evidence in his favour.
'And yet you still haven't learned,' Esme said as she held back a yawn. She sat slumped forward with her chin in her hand. 'Surfing around on Rhyhorn... Jumping down gorges...'
'I didn't jump,' said Zack. 'The mine cart derailed.'

Esme stared at him with a benign grin. Her eyes were all puffy behind her glasses, and she looked around ready to drop off.

'It really is time for you to go,' she said, stifling another yawn. Zack still hadn't finished off his dinner, but he stopped being hungry a while ago anyway. He hadn't even touched his pudding, but that didn't seem to matter because Esme was sliding it towards her part of the table.

'Don't tell my aunts,' she whispered, winking.
'Wouldn't dream of it,' Zack grinned as he stood up.

The library was predictably quiet, its long wall of storefront windows painted black by nighttime. The far row of shops lit up every few seconds with a flicker of multi-coloured light, flashing up pinks, greens, reds and blues. Zack frowned when he saw it, but since nothing was blowing up, he figured it wasn't an issue.

'Shame we couldn't do any research,' he said as they walked up to the main door.
'Research?' Esme repeated idly, taking the door keys from behind the counter.
'Yeah, I thought we could make a start on it, you know, find out who's targeting trainers,' Zack said. 'I got a name earlier, for someone who might be in charge: Nicolette Nostrad.'

Esme glanced at him with a look of recognition, and tried to hide it too late by smiling.

'Really now,' she said with a tired grin. 'Just go back to the Center, and let me worry about Nicolette Nostrad.'
'Tomorrow then,' Zack said, rubbing his neck awkwardly. Esme sighed.

'Zack, I don't think it's such a good idea you getting involved. It's dangerous-'

Opening his mouth to prepare an indignant reply, Zack was cut off by a sudden rapping on the front door. It wasn't fast, but slow and uneven, like whoever was knocking didn't really have their heart in it. They both looked for the source of the disturbance and, rolling her eyes, Esme went over and opened the door a crack.

'It's late, what is it?' she asked, poking her head through the gap. Sina stood on the other side, her face blotchy and streaky with tears. Esme's expression softened. 'Sina, what's wrong?'
'It's the professor!' Sina started, her voice dry and throaty. 'At first I thought things'd be okay, you know? He's just doing a favour for a friend and we found out, but now he's snapping all the time and shouting.'
'Well,' Esme said soothingly, 'that's probably my fault.'
'But then I got to thinking,' Sina sniffed. 'W-what if he's part of Team Flare too? And what if they really are terrorists. All those people on the news, and it's all because of them, right? So maybe we did something to make it happen. We could've helped them without knowing it, and now all those people...'

Sina rubbed her eyes, swallowing hard. She looked up and past Esme, spotting Zack for the first time. He didn't know what to do, so stood with his hands in his pockets and nodded at her. Sina's jaw dropped in outrage.

'Dude, what the hell,' she gasped at Esme, her voice squeaking. 'What's he doing here? You promised!'
'Whoa, wait, nuh-uh,' Esme started, going red in the face. 'That is - absolutely - there is nothing going on here.'
'Yeah right,' Sina grumbled, wiping her eyes. 'You know what? I'm going home. Tell the professor... I'm not going in tomorrow. I need to think about stuff.'

'Sina, wait,' Esme said, opening the door, but Zack put his hand on her arm.
'I'll get her,' he said, pausing in the doorway. 'And look, I just spent all night telling you how I don't mind a little danger. This isn't new to me.'
'That's not the same thing,' Esme replied, watching Sina's back as she slouched down the street. She looked Zack in the eye. 'This isn't your country or your problem. I know you're worried about your sister, but if she's losing half her gym matches, she's not exactly a prime target.'

'Don't,' Zack said, feeling his anger rise. It was one thing to insult him, but quite another to insult Helena, especially behind her back. It was all he could do to restrain himself. 'Don't talk about my sister that way. You don't know a god damn thing about her. Goodnight, Esme.'

Pushing past her, Zack carried on down the street to catch up with Sina. He would see her safely back home before turning in at one of the city's Pokémon Centers. Esme watched them both go, then sighed to herself. She looked up at the stars, and at the multi-coloured meteorites streaking west. She closed her eyes, thinking of Zack and Sina, Sycamore, Allard and herself. One big mess that kept getting messier.

Esme took a deep breath and tipped her head forward, sighing once again. 'Whatever.'

((I'm ready to skiiiiipppp))

((So since we got the summary thread done, let's get this party started with a nice long post dramallama cheese_whine dramallama ninja ))

Route 16 - Mélancolie Path

Gremlin popped his head out of Zack's backpack to find he was alone in the misty valley. Last he remembered, he'd been snuggled up warm with fleeting awareness of a cozy old library kitchen around him. Why then, had that warmth been replaced with morning chill and the slick wet of dewy grass?

'Oh, har-har, very funny,' the Aipom grumbled, climbing out of the backpack and looking around. 'That's right, leave old Gremmers on his own. You can come out now!'

He stopped, listened, but there came no reply. Just the sound of his breath curling and the distant chirps of wild pokémon in the nearby forest. Not wanting to draw their attention, and suddenly realising he was vulnerable, Gremlin hunched up and stayed quiet. He didn't know why, but he dragged Zack's backpack with him as he crept through the grassy trail and looked for signs of tracks. Perhaps he could dive inside the pack if another pokémon appeared, and hope it wouldn't sniff him out? He had no idea if that would work.

[God, I hope these bumpkins don't find me first,] Gremlin shivered. He stopped himself dead when he hear something up ahead. Some kind of voice, but whether it was human or pokémon, he couldn't tell. [Pleeease don't eat meeee...]

The Aipom crawled up a steep slope, keeping himself flat to the grass. It'd be just his luck to get attacked at that very moment, and the thought thrashed in his chest and played havoc with his gut. The voices became clearer, along with the sound of attacks ripping through the foggy air. In the darkness below, Gremlin could make out flashes of orange and purple that lit up the mist. He crawled forward, and his heart did a somersault followed by a deadening bellyflop.

Zack's Charmander and Haunter! What were their names again? Something lame, no doubt. Gremlin barely had time to ponder or feel hopeful, because given the state they were in, they wouldn't last much longer. And then what good were they?

The Charmander bled heavily, and narrowly avoided the brunt of a wild Weepinbell's Razor Leafs. The edges tore at his sides and back as he hurtled through the air, carving out fresh red lines of blood.

[Hazard!] the Charmander snarled, [what are you waiting for, do it now!]

The Weepinbell let up its assault in dull surprise. The ghost type faded into view behind it, grinning. She threw her Shadow Ball, which blew Weepinbell back, but not out. The Charmander rushed forward, taking advantage of the opening to unleash a huge blast of Flamethrower, which finished the grass type off.

Oh. They managed it. Gremlin grinned and scurried down the grass bank, waving his arms to get their attention. The Charmander jumped in surprise, but played it off like he was just annoyed, while the Haunter grinned despite her exhaustion.

[Heeeeey! It's meeeee!] Gremlin shouted, Zack's backpack bouncing in his wake.
[Pretend you don't see him,] Malis grumbled. Hazard snickered.
[Too late.]

[There you guys are. What's the deal with leaving me out there?] Gremlin ground to a stop, and glanced at Weepinbell's charred remains. [I could've been, I dunno, plant food.]
[We couldn't bear to wake you,] Hazard said in her rasping, hoarse, yet somehow gentle voice. [You slept like the dead, kekeke~]
[The bag!] Malis's eyes lit up and he shoved Gremlin aside and onto the deck, seizing the backpack and rummaging through its contents. He retrieved a pair of Potions and tossed one to Hazard, who caught it soundlessly in her ghostly palm.

[Oww! You're welcome,] Gremlin winced, picking himself up. Malis fumbled with the Potion. He clearly didn't know what he was doing with it; he hadn't even held it the right way up. [What're you, stupid? You're supposed to squeeze the--]

Malis, however, seemed to have something worked out. He turned the Potion around and ripped its lid off with his teeth, then guzzled the contents. His eyes opened wide for a second. He choked, and spat out the Potion in a blaze of blue fire.

[Squeeze the handle next time, you ignoramus,] Gremlin sneered. Malis gave the Aipom a dirty look as he wiped excess Potion from his snout, and Hazard cackled in the background. She seemed to take Gremlin's advice because a second later, he heard her Potion squirting and the empty bottle drop to the floor.

[I think we should perhaps find master,] Hazard said, drifting overhead. [Before more of them come.]

Malis folded his arms. Though his scales were still red with blood, the Potion had gone some way towards healing his wounds, which shone with fresh skin that would likely deepen into scars.

[Wish you'd stop calling him that. It's creepy. He's not my master.]
Hazard blinked. [But he is...]
[No, he's just the guy who shoots at me, and sends me off to fight things way beyond my level,] the fire type said, kicking a pebble, which nailed the downed Weepinbell between the eyes. [He doesn't take care of us, not like a real trainer.]
[Uh, guys?] Aipom squeaked.
[Oh, that's not true at all,] Hazard waved her hand dismissively. [Why, I remember when master risked his life to prevent that large bear from eviscerating me. Not that it would've done much good, I being a ghost.]
[Guys?]
Hazard sighed forlornly. [But still, I wouldn't think it'd be so bad if master were dead. Then he could be a ghost too, kekekeke~]
[GUYS!]

[What?] snapped Malis, glaring at Gremlin, who had gone a shade of lilac. The Charmander paused, looking around slowly. Sunlight broke over the trees, melting the mist into something translucent, and revealing the bristling horde of wild pokémon. They were surrounded by Floatzel, Skorupi, Phantump and Pumpkaboo of different sizes. A group of Weepinbell checked their fallen kin, then glared angrily. [Oh.]

Gremlin sank into the ground while the other two pokémon closed their gap, back to back. The surrounding horde advanced, and Gremlin spotted a particularly vicious-looking Murkrow click its beak hungrily.

[How many can you take down?] Malis hissed to Hazard. The ghost looked around thoughtfully.
[Perhaps one or two. I'm afraid we're doomed~]
Malis frowned and grit his teeth. [I can maybe take one of the Weepinbell.]
[Whaaaat? Are you guys nuts?] Gremlin whispered. [There's no way we're fighting those things. They're as strong as you,] he said to Hazard. [And waaay stronger than you.]

Malis twitched his eye and, to Gremlin's utter shock, stepped forward. Gremlin could almost feel the surrounding pokémon tense, some of them preparing attacks. He gulped.

[Hey,] Malis said, waving at them casually, though Gremlin could see his legs shaking. [Glad you guys are here. You're just in time.] He gestured to the blackened Weepinbell, then to Gremlin. [We found the perpetrator.]

A Skorupi shrieked and shot a Venoshock from its tail, forcing Gremlin to hit the deck and cover his head while the rest of the horde began muttering to themselves. The Venoshock hit a tree and started to melt it.

[Oh, great plan, Einstein,] the Aipom squeaked, trying not to sound panicked. [I can't even breathe fire!]
The horde's muttering stopped except for one or two cries of [Oh yeh] and [Good poin'], and they shifted their angry gaze back to Malis, who slid his palm down his face. [Alright, Plan B. Hazard!]

Hazard drifted to attention as Malis turned tail and sprinted back towards her and Gremlin. The second he moved, the horde launched into a frenzy, firing attacks off all at once. Razor Leafs and Bullet Seeds scraped Malis' scales as he ran. He dodged more Venoshocks while the Phantump worked together summoning a Forest's Curse. Tree roots shots out of the ground and raced after him, right as the fire type shot a little black ball from his mouth. The ball exploded at Gremlin's feet, masking the Aipom and Haunter in a thick cloud of Smokescreen. Malis dived inside, followed by a torrent of attacks all slicing through the middle.

A moment passed, and the top of the smoke ruptured. Hazard flew out of it, carrying Gremlin and Malis in her hands, their legs dangling as they rose above the attacks and mad shouts.

[Git back here, y'hear!]
[Y'all're in fer it naow!]

[Come on, fly! Fly!] Gremlin screamed when a Razor Leaf clipped his ear. They were gaining altitude, and the land-based attacks losing accuracy. Hazard said nothing, which said it all. Her normally crooked mouth was a thin line of exertion as they rose above the forest's canopy.
[Great. We got incoming!] Malis shouted and Gremlin's heart sank. The Murkrow from earlier was closing in fast. Its hooked beak looked particularly deadly, and it wasn't alone. Half a dozen more Murkrow were closing in from all sides, flying far faster than the weighed-down Hazard could manage. Malis seethed with flame, and blasted a Flamethrower in the first Murkrow's face, knocking it from the sky. But as he did that, the rest closed in. He couldn't take them one at a time.

A lightbulb went off in Gremlin's head. He saw Malis looking around, trying to get a good aim on the other Murkrow, and a grin spread across the Aipom's face. He swung his legs behind him, then kicked Malis in the back, urging them both into a spin. Hazard's hands had no problem twisting around since she didn't have arms, and Malis jumped on the idea, unleashing another volley of Flamethrower that became an inverted tornado of fire.

The treetops caught aflame in a wide circle, glowing warm on the morning mist. Each Murkow fell from the sky as charred debris, and it looked like the pokémon were in the clear. Their spin came to a stop and the pokémon cheered; Hazard even started grinning despite the strain of carrying the other two pokémon. But then Gremlin glanced down, and his stomach fell apart.

Having given up on chasing their prey, the horde had switched attention to the backpack lying discarded on the grass. They began picking it apart, spilling its contents on the floor. A pair of Lombre found a black notebook, and began fighting over it, each yanking hard on the cover until the pages began to split.

[Oh no. Nonono!] Gremlin cried. A bolt of blue shot from the forest and snapped one Lombre's head to the side, encased in ice. The horde pokémon panicked as more bolts shot out, blasting the grass types and taking them down in one hit. The Klefki and Floatzel could weather the attacks and rushed forward. The Floatzel all scurried into the grass, becoming invisible between its tall blades while the Klefki returned pink blasts that shot into the darkness of the forest.

Zack broke out of the trees and didn't stop running. He ducked under a Klefki's Fairy Wind, which shredded a nearby tree instead, and blasted the key pokémon with Lethal's Water Pulse. Confused, the Klefki began launching Fairy Wind in every direction, hitting other pokémon in the horde until they jumped on it. One of the Floatzel dived out of the grass, fangs bared, until a thick dark shadow expanded overhead. Fatass launched himself out of the forest and Body Slammed the water type. His flab wobbling like jelly, he was soon lifted from the floor and flung onto his back, unconscious. Floatzel sat up, dazed, and nearly managed to shake it off until Zack ran past, kicked it under the chin, and launched the water type halfway across the route.

'God dammit, Fatass,' Zack growled, recalled his Snorlax and shot a Weepinbell with Ice Beam in the same movement. Just then, four more Floatzel shot out of the grass and raced towards him.

[We gotta get back down there!] Gremlin yelled, but caught an evil grin on Malis' face.
[Not a chance. Let's see how he likes it.]

The Floatzel jumped at Zack from all sides. He lobbed Lethal, and the Clauncher shot water from his nozzle, propelling himself forward and cracking the first Floatzel hard. He ricocheted in a square around Zack, hitting each pokémon in turn. They all hit the floor hard, and Zack caught Lethal while tossing a pokéball directly upward, releasing Fatass. Then he dodged to the side with enough time to watch the four Floatzel get flattened by the unconscious Snorlax.

Zack cracked a grin, but his celebration was short lived. The Phantump continued chanting and created another surge of tree roots that shot towards the trainer, crashing down on him like a wave. Zack disappeared under the mess of vines. All Gremlin saw of him was his hand grasping at air until it too vanished.

The horde converged and the roots tightened around their prey while a halo of flame savaged the trees overhead. Over the roar of fire and sounds of pokémon, Gremlin heard a faint whining sound; a high pitch tone that seemed vaguely familiar. White light spilled from the cracks in the roots, and a second later, they began to freeze in a thick shell of ice. Then the ice split, gushing with water that blasted it apart, spraying shards like shrapnel.

Zack stood with Lethal in hand, fastened along the length of his arm and around his shoulder. The water type's shell was massive, shining with wet and the same deep blue as the ocean depths. Lethal was Clawitzer, and Zack aimed him at the horde like a cannon.

They scattered all at once, footsteps quaking the earth as well as any ground type. They vanished back into the woodland, into the tall grass and water. In a few seconds the route was left clear, and Zack dropped to one knee, grinning at his new pokémon.

---

'Okay, now try that one.' Lethal aimed his new cannon and launched a blast of water that felled a tree. 'Not bad, not bad.'

Zack lay on a hill pointing out targets for Lethal to test himself out on. The trainer was covered in small cuts and grazes from their earlier training session, and kept finding new deposits of soil in his clothes, but he was happy. He'd given his team their first real taste of fly or die training, and not one of them had managed the latter, which was a definite plus.

The sun now sat comfortably in the sky, the morning mist burned away. They hadn't seen hide nor hair of wild pokémon since the battle, but that was fine. Route 16 was beyond half of Zack's team individually, according to the center nurse at least, which made it the perfect training ground. Hazard had finally mastered her Shadow Ball to the point where Zack was happy with it, and Lethal's evolution meant a huge boost in their war potential. Once he was back in the city, he'd check out which new moves the pokémon could learn. Explosive ones, he hoped.

'Hey Gremlin,' Zack nodded as the Aipom scurried over.
'Hey yourself. You ditched me! Me!' the pokémon whined. Zack laughed, pointing out a boulder, which was promptly blown apart.
'I couldn't sleep, and you clearly could. What's your problem, you get scared on your own?'

Gremlin went red in the face and plonked himself down. He said nothing for a while, and Zack gave Lethal a break. The trainer went through his notebook, making sure the Lombre hadn't done too much damage, and found it to be acceptably intact. Eventually, Gremlin leaned over and whispered.

'You know, that Charmander of yours has it in for you.'
'No s**t?' Zack glanced at Malis, who was sharing a bed with Fletchinder on Fatass' belly. The Snorlax was still sleeping off his one hit knockout from the wild Floatzel, and was nice and warm in the sun.
'I'd watch my back if I were you, seriously.'

Zack grinned. 'I'm not too worried. Let him try if he thinks he has what it takes.'
'I'm not joking. The guy gives me the creeps. You should've seen his face when thought you'd end up as Floatzel poop... ughh...'
'Noted,' Zack said, putting his book in his pocket and standing up. His backpack was ruined, but luckily he'd been able to salvage enough material to wrap up his things, and bound them with the backpack's drawstring. It wasn't perfect, but it'd do for now.

'Right!' He barked, drawing his team's attention at once. Even Antiq, who had been slumbering among the remains of the defeated horde pokémon (which had mysteriously vanished) raised her head a little. 'As you assholes probably know, I'm not one for speeches, so I'll keep this brief. Some of you, mostly Malis, think I've been a too hard on you this morning. Well get used to it, because it's only going to get harder from now on.'
'I don't know that guy,' Gremlin whispered to Hazard, who grinned.

'This training'll improve your reflexes, strategic awareness, durability... I got no use for anybody who needs to be told when to dodge, or make their opponent hurt. You'll learn to be smarter and stronger, and the only way to get stronger is to beat what's ahead of you. Sitting on a pile of weaklings is only good for strengthening your ego, and we gotta leave that s**t at the door.'
'Tssssh, look who's talking,' Gremlin smirked. Hazard cackled.

'Just remember,' Zack said, gaze lingering on Malis, who was sat up with his arms folded and sulking. 'I'm not your ******** nanny, I'm your trainer. And by the time we're through, you'll be unstoppable, I promise you that.'

Cyllage City Supermarket

Being a city known for its extreme sports scene, Cyllage City’s early morning drowsy spell was broken by joggers and bikers, setting off a chain effect that always woke the town bright and early. Despite this, the super market was practically a ghost town at eight in the morning, as most people in their right mind didn’t shop for groceries that early. Though the PA system played the radio, it didn’t change the stark atmosphere. In a city so vibrant, the super market was sleepy.

Then the automatic doors slid open as Salieri entered, whirling in the air with her stun baton set to shock. A mass of water violently writhed around her body like a constricting serpent until Sal could strike it with the baton. An electric current pulsed through the water and it rained off Sal, reforming into solid form. Vaporeon growled at her.

[You’re so annoying!] she winced, barely hiding that she was in pain. It had been a long chase through town since the loud human interrupted her fishing session on the beach. She had been outnumbered and ambushed by the human’s team, taking more damage than she dished out. Vaporeon had lost the Pokémon in the streets, but the human had just caught up to her here. Even without her Pokémon, she was by far the most tenacious human the Bubble Jet Pokémon had known. [Annoying and weak! Get wrecked kid!]

Vaporeon breathed a beam of rainbow colored energy at Sal. The air conditioning made it cold already, but from a distance Sal could feel the temperature drop. Before it could land, the automatic doors slid open once more and Durendal dashed in, Pressure on. Salieri’s swordsman brandished his shiny Metal Claw and cut the Aurora Beam in two with its reflective surface, sending both halves of the cold energy to freezer burn against the walls.

As the doors were closing, Biz Marquis ran in, getting stuck between them as the closed and opened and closed and opened and et cetera. [The hell is this?] He finally freed himself from the repetition and spun into the store, power posing to save face. [It’s okay! I’m okay!]

Dune fired Thunder Waves at Vaporeon, who turned back to water to snake away from them further into the store. “Cut her off!” Sal ordered Biz, pointing one direction while she and Dune ran in the other. There was no time to lose; Vaporeon had set up an Aqua Ring a while ago, and could escape from many angles. Momentum was their only friend.

They chased Vaporeon into the produce section, where she jumped from the ground into a crate of watermelons. She became a geyser, launching the watermelons into the air. Salieri zig zagged between the raining melons while Dune ran further ahead, Slashing them apart as they came down. Though he never lost focus, in the back of his mind he cursed himself for cutting apart food he wasn’t going to eat. Maybe he’d get to eat it later.

Vaporeon became solid, kicked up a heel and winked at Dune with an abundance of confidence. The juices of the cut watermelons flew into the air, converging into one whirling disk of pink Scald that spun into Durendal. He clashed against it with his new Dual Chops maneuver learned from further speed training, slicing it apart as it kept reforming to attack him. “Ivan, does she have to be solid to control other water sources?” Sal asked as she closed in on Vaporeon, clicking her rollerblades open.

A ding rang from her Pokédex. “Beepboop. Yes! You figured it out by yourself! Beginning IQ reevaluation immediately,” Ivan chimed pleasantly. Vaporeon noticed Sal getting close. The juice disk rapidly boiled into a cloud of pink steam, blocking Durendal from seeing Sal chase Vaporeon past the aisles.
“CLEANUP IN PRODUCE,” came a bored voice from the PA system.
“Cut your two bit, eight bit bullshit!” she shouted at her Pokédex. If she hadn’t been so angry at her tech, she may have noticed Biz in an aisle they passed tasting different kinds of spices, and she would’ve been angrier. “Any other tips?”
“Vaporeon can conserve power by using other sources of water.” Vaporeon ducked into one of the aisles. Sal swerved close to make the tight turn. “Due to hydrokinesis and level gap, my diagnostic recommends against fighting this Vaporeon around abundant water sources.”

At the end of the aisle, Vaporeon stood with a smile on her face. The aisle in question was the beverage aisle. Sal’s jaw dropped as she slid to a halt. Ivan ding’d. “I recommend against this.”

Soda, water, seltzer and juice burst from their containers and came together, a thick brown ever-shifting mass the size of a truck. It crashed down as a wave, flooding the aisle on its way to Salieri. With a running jump and a vault up the shelves, Salieri scrambled to the top of the aisle and ran down its length. The Surf swept up and u-turned on behind her, gaining fast. “Merde.” Salieri clicked her rollerblades back on and picked up speed, but it wasn’t enough. “Merdemerdemerde-“

She flipped off into the next aisle and hit the ground rollerblading. The Surf slid down and followed her, leaving a trail of sticky liquid behind. “Beepboop. Additional tip: Vaporeon does not require sight to take control of water sources.”
“You could’ve told me-whatever, she still can’t see me,” Sal said as she quickly judged the aisle she was in to be the baking aisle. On a shelf of ingredients she spotted what she needed. She picked up speed, snatched three sacks of corn starch and pulled a tight turn to the next aisle. The wave sloshed down and washed past the checkout counters harmlessly.

Vaporeon took a deep self congratulatory breath, relishing the slight soothing of her Aqua Ring for a moment. She turned to find a way out of the store when she came face to face with Biz Marquis, who held onto two Needle Swords. [FOUND YOU!] he boasted with chili powder around his lips. Having taken a couple of blows from the needles before, Vaporeon knew they were quite powerful. She wasn’t eager to take on Biz right now.

With the power of Needle Arm boosted by his natural armament and the range of a sword, Biz rushed Vaporeon with a jab. The wild dog melted into water and rushed down the now empty soda aisle with an aqueous form of Quick Attack. Biz threw one of his needles like a javelin, and Vaporeon made an empty circle with her body. The needle stuck into the tiled floor and Vaporeon sped away. Biz snapped his fingers. [Maaaaaan.]

When she emerged from the soda aisle, Vaporeon heard the PA system fizzle on with “CLEANUP IN AISLE 9. AND 10. AND 11,” and saw Durendal flying at her from down the hall, firing a Thunder Wave.

Not stopping, Vaporeon became solid again and summoned the milk from the dairy shelf out of its cartons, using it to absorb the Thunder Wave. The milk compressed and shot forth as a Hydro Pump. Fleché a la Mode’s crimson sparks crackled to life on the Pawniard’s shiny red armor, and Dune spun forward like a buzzsaw with multiple layers of Fury Cutter. His Spirale Sabre technique slashed through the Hydro Pump, splashing it all over the dairy section. When Dune stopped spinning, he saw Vaporeon’s water form slither into the bathroom. He kept Fleché on and bolted inside.

The unmistakable sound of a drain being used sank Dune’s heart as he slowed down inside the bathroom and saw Vaporeon sneak down the sink.

Dune sighed as Biz Marquis rolled in, brandishing his wooden arm cannon. He aimed it around the bathroom. [I’m gonna show you a real-oh, did she get away?]
The Pawniard nodded. The arm cannon disintegrated into detritus as Biz hung his head.

Salieri burst into the room, holding two sacks of corn starch and covered with corn starch. “GOTCHA, b***h, HAHA!” she roared with a humongous grin. Once she read the mood, her victory swell popped. She got a look at how dirty she was in the mirror and her shoulders heaved in defeat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Salieri plopped the two sacks of corn starch onto the checkout counter. “Just these.”

The teen goth cashier stared at Sal with crossed arms just chewing her gum. Her eyes moved and Sal followed them, looking on at the busted up supermarket. One of the tables at the bakery fell apart spontaneously. The cashier popped a bubble with her gum. “And everything else?”

“Oh that? Pssh, that.” Sal scoffed and looked around for reactions, taking way too long only to get nothing. She gulped sheepishly. “That was the other guy.”

Pokémon Center – Salieri’s Room

Curled up on the bed with a newspaper and a cup of tea, Lupin tilted his head at the site of Salieri. [Yeesh. That bad, huh?] He shook his head and went back to reading.
Lupin didn’t have the moves yet to capture such an elusive foe, and his invisibility scales came off in water. He was given a free pass from the hunt, something he enjoyed greatly. The Kecleon didn’t care for drowning on land. Or drowning in general.

Sal sneered at his dismissive attitude and plucked the newspaper from his hands. “You were supposed to be training.” He latched onto the paper with his tongue, so Sal shocked his tongue with the stun baton. It reeled back into his mouth and he gave her a stink eye. “I want to see you learn Toxic by the end of the day, or I’m siccing Vaporeon on you.”

[The Vaporeon you clearly don’t have,] Lupin grimaced. Durendal and Biz Marquis were being treated downstairs in the Center proper, so Sal only had to worry about her own upkeep for now. She placed Ivan onto the bed and walked into the bathroom.

“Ivan, do you have her yet?” Sal asked while turning on the sink. A Pokédex could narrow down the location of a wild Pokémon to a city or route. After getting upgraded, Ivan claimed it could use a program similar to the DexNav to narrow the search even more.
“The Vaporeon is on the southern end of Cyllage City. Altitude is unknown.”
“So you’re saying she might be in the sewers? I’m not going into a sewer.” She was messy enough as it was. A line had to be drawn somewhere. “I can wait for Vaporeon to come out on her own.”

Her Pokégear rang. Caller ID said it was Mia, so Salieri put her on speakerphone. “Morning. What’s up?”
“Hey, I cracked Faust’s tablet for you,” Mia said with a hint of smugness.
“What? You have it for less than a day and it’s already cracked?”
“Yeah…you know I mean ‘cracked’ as in I got past his password and I have full access, right?”
Sal was glad Mia couldn’t see her facepalm. “Oh, right. Duh. Anything good?”
“He’s got a cool camera connection program, that’s neat. Other than that, it’s pretty standard. It’s like a portable PC. I’m gonna connect it to Gotengo’s PC and send it back to you, it’ll definitely be useful.”
“Fantastique.” The more she got out of Faust’s gear, the better. She didn’t want to talk about failing to capture Vaporeon, so instead Sal asked, “How’s the Lumiose life?”
“Same old same old. We had a BBQ party yesterday…oh, did you meet with Zack? How did that go?”
Thinking of Zack’s face made Sal want to punch something. “He was useless, told me about some Team Flair thing that gets me nowhere. Then he got uppity so I told him off and he left.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Mia? Still there?”
“You’re serious? Why would you do that?”
“He’s a total connard-“
“He wants the same thing you do, and he can fight. The enemy of your enemy, Sal.”
“The enemy of my enemy is a total connard. And how do you know he can fight?”
“Do I have to remind you of the one shot, One Shot?”
“HEY!” Sal growled while Mia snickered. “That was a technicality! You…I…you…damnit! Zack sucks!”
“It’s not like you have to date him. Right now you suck too, so maybe you should team up and suck together. Mmm, that’s not the phrase I meant to use-”

Salieri stopped listening at the word ‘date’ as she started to remember something important. “…oh no. Ohhhhhh no, Mia, I have a date today.”
“Really?” Mia perked up, which for her meant that she moved beyond a monotone. “Who? Who?”

Suddenly Salieri started panicking, taking off her clothes and tossing them on the ground. From the bedroom Lupin grimaced at the disguting sight of a half naked human and closed the bathroom door with his tongue.

“With that Matheson guy I told you about!” Sal tripped as she turned on the shower. “He asked me out yesterday, it was weird!”
“That’s awesome, Sal. Do you like him?”
“I don’t know, he’s really sweet and he likes Unovan football and his biceps, my god. I don’t know! I forgot until right now that we were doing this and I’m covered in corn starch! I need to find a dress!”
“Corn starch?”
“I have to go I’ll call you back later bye!” Sal hung up and jumped into the shower.